The usual method of selling software is to sell a license to use the software. The license typically includes various restrictions, known as license terms. Software can be delivered with a written license document. However, it is easy to duplicate the software and distribute it illegally with this method. To prevent piracy of the licensed software, many techniques to prevent copying software have been used. Some methods are focused on making the actual software difficult to copy. Other methods use an electronic form of the license terms as a method of limiting distribution of the software.
The electronic licenses are of course subject to hacking and piracy as well. Various methods of increasing the security of an electronic software license have been developed. The assignee of the present invention, has developed a method of delivering secure licenses for this purpose, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/072,597 entitled “A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DELIVERY OF SECURE SOFTWARE LICENSE INFORMATION” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/080,639 entitled “DELIVERY OF A SECURE SOFTWARE LICENSE FOR A SOFTWARE PRODUCT AND A TOOLSET FOR CREATING THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT.”
The assignee has also developed an external security device for storing software licenses in which the licenses are accessed by plugging the external device into an I/O port of the user computer, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,240 entitled “PORTABLE AUTHORIZATION DEVICE FOR AUTHORIZING USE OF PROTECTED INFORMATION AND ASSOCIATED METHOD,” assigned to the same assignee of the present invention describes such a device.
During the use of licenses by a user, it is not uncommon for a license to be damaged or lost, due to a computer malfunction, virus, hardware failure, or mechanical damage. In this case, the user faces a difficult chore of acquiring new licenses from the various software publishers. This is not only a time consuming process, but also typically cannot be accomplished without having to purchase new licenses, where proof of purchase cannot be produced. Often, enough time has passed that the original version of the software is no longer available, and a new version must be purchased.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for managing licenses that enables a user to easily retrieve a license in the case where the license is damaged or lost. The present invention addresses such a need.